In overweight women who performed supervised aerobic exercise for twelve weeks, changes in how hungry or full they felt were not linked to measurable changes in appetite-related hormones.
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
These women felt hungrier after exercising, but their hunger hormones stayed the same. That means something else — probably nerves in their fat or muscles — sent signals straight to their brain telling it they were hungry, bypassing the usual hormone system.
Most probable mechanism
When these women exercised, their body didn't change the hunger hormones, but their brain still felt hungrier — this might be because nerves in fat or muscle sent signals directly to the brain that changed how full or hungry they felt, without using hormones.
Aerobic exercise induces metabolic or mechanical stress in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, activating sensory nerve fibers that project to the central nervous system.
These neural signals modulate hypothalamic and brainstem appetite centers without altering circulating concentrations of appetite-related peptides.
Altered neural input increases perceived hunger despite stable peptide hormone levels, leading to increased appetite sensation.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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Contradicting (0)
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